Lisa K. Adams is the Marketing Manager at Pheasant Run Resort. Her responsibilities include what you would expect: SEO, PPC, website maintenance, PR, and reputation management. But what Lisa really excels at is the amount of work she is able to accomplish so efficiently.

Her day may start with updating internal marketing for resort guests, planning a promotion in the theater, promoting a holiday brunch for 1,500, booking entertainment, or decorating a float for a community parade.

Our transient leisure revenues will exceed $250,000 over the previous year and at a suburban resort, those numbers are magnificent. It’s her focus on email marketing, targeted messaging on social media, and a clear call to action that have helped a once struggling suburban resort surpass its competition.

It’s a team effort at Pheasant Run, but when it comes to marketing and promotion, Lisa Adams has made all the difference.

Steve Meggos, Banquet Manager, has been an intricate part of the hospitality fabric at Pheasant Run Resort for over twenty-six years. The work ethic he maintains has been embraced with enthusiasm and eloquent professionalism whether it means 4am service or 2am closing.

Steve is an avid gardener and award-winning Dahlia grower with over 100 varieties in his backyard. In his spare time, he plants a garden at Pheasant Run Resort each year with fresh fruits and vegetables that are used in the restaurant, Harvest.

Steve and his banquets team, will be responsible for servicing over 121,000 meals during 2018 and over four million during his career at Pheasant Run. He has personally overseen more than 1,000 wedding receptions, and new generations of families he has serviced during his long-standing career.

His attention to detail and the relationships Steve has developed with staff and guests over the years make him an extremely deserving candidate for Manager of the Year.

Administrative Employee of the Year

Berenice Cruz has been Administrative Assistant and was recently promoted to Catering Sales Manager at Pheasant Run Resort. Employees at Pheasant Run are called Artists, but Berenice truly is! Berenice is always drawing personalized birthday cards for other artists and she volunteers her time and talents for community projects like painting an Adirondack chair, clay pot, or pumpkin!

Berenice volunteers on the Promise Committee focusing on Community Involvement and Green Initiatives and puts her artistic talents to work creating posters as well as using her fluent Spanish to create flyers for HR.

Although Berenice primarily worked for the Sales and Catering department as an Administrative Assistant, she helped out in Banquets and assists any department as needed. She is extremely hard working, making sure everyone has what they need to get the job done at Pheasant Run.

Overall, Berenice is a hardworking, truly caring Artist at Pheasant Run and respected by every member of the team.

When we think about the most deserving candidate for Hotelier of the Year, only one person comes to mind, General Manager France Langan.

France has been with Hostmark Hospitality Group for fourteen years and General Manager at Pheasant Run since 2016. He has had so many accomplishments in that short time, but his first order of business was improving the company culture. Hostmark Hospitality Group rolled out a new initiative called the Art of Service and France embraced it whole-heartedly.

The Art of Services means bringing local style and flair to the guest interaction. Never boring or bland. Ideas, ideas, and more ideas! Challenging ourselves every day. Our guests raving to others about their stays. Exceptional experiences, created by exceptional people…our Hostmark Artists [employees]!

France implemented a roundtable forum with the Artists called “Frankly with France” where twice a month he meets with a group of Artists from each department over breakfast or lunch to listen to their comments and concerns and share information about our property. He uses this information to affect real change within the resort that resonates with the Artists themselves because they were a part of it!

France also has a careful eye on our finances, but has been able to make big things happen with a small budget, including reopening the Mainstage Theater, increasing revenue with daily pool passes, revitalizing historic Bourbon Street, purchasing new golf carts, refurbishing and getting repairs completed, and purchasing a new electronic marquee.

Hostmark Hospitality Group’s mission and core values encourage our Artists to “Make your Mark.” This program encourages us to Say It, Reach Out, Just Deliver, Forward Focus, and Join the Team. France lives and breathes these core values each and every day and it is reflected in all that he has been able to accomplish as General Manager at Pheasant Run Resort.

France has Made his Mark in the Chicago Suburbs and he would make a great candidate for Hotelier of the Year!

Guest Service Employee of the Year

Every once in a while you find an artist that rises above to help anyone in need. We have one of those special artists at Pheasant Run Resort in Keith. Keith Boehmer’s primary job is in the Pro Shop of the Golf Course. He also works part-time as a Security Officer. He is organized, efficient, and friendly beyond compare.

Some of us are lucky enough to go our entire career without a disastrous situation such as the one that occurred at about 10:30pm on Tuesday 7/17/18. Two boys ran to the front desk and told our Front Desk Supervisor that someone was drowning in the pool.

Luckily Keith was our Security Officer that evening. He was called on the radio to attend to a code 1000 – Medical Emergency at the Outdoor Pool. As Keith ran towards the pool and saw the crowd, he immediately jumped into the pool and swam across to the island, where he assisted a group chaperone, holding the boy’s head from hitting the concrete and turning him to extract water.

The boy had been underwater for up to five minutes and had ingested a large amount of water. As the boy became alert, he told Keith he had panicked and couldn’t swim. The St Charles police arrived, and shortly thereafter, the paramedics. Two of the paramedics jumped into the pool and swam across with a board and removed the boy to the ambulance, where he was alert but being taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure.

The extraordinary thing, is that Keith didn’t hesitate. He knew the boy needed help; he didn’t even realize someone else was also swimming towards the boy who got their first. He just knew what needed to be done and did what the majority would not.

Keith is one of those rare people that would do whatever needed to be done to assist in any situation. He definitely helped save this boy’s life and Pheasant Run is forever grateful to have him on the Team.

IHLA’s Stars of the Industry Awards program was established in 1996 to honor IHLA member hotel employees for their outstanding accomplishments, service, and leadership in the hospitality and lodging industry. This program recognizes the best of the best out of the thousands of exceptional hospitality employees in Illinois. These nominees are among those men and women who go above and beyond and whose hard work and dedication are an inspiration to their peers.

Pheasant Run looks forward to celebrating these five nominees at the annual Stars of the Industry Chicagoland Regional Luncheon on Thursday, November 1st at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare.